In 2019, the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD) launched the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative (AAI) in collaboration with the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ’s) Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCoE); the current report summarizes prominent themes that emerged from interviews conducted by the FTCoE with key AAI stakeholders, and guidance for ASCLD and forensic science service providers (FSSPs).
Overall, stakeholders had highly positive experiences in the program and believe it has tremendous value for facilitating accreditation. They also offered several helpful suggestions for how the AAI could be refined to better serve the forensic community. Also reported from the meeting are why accreditation is valuable for FSSPs, as well as why FSSPs face barriers to accreditation.